Star Wars observation

[Commander Max]

I woke up with this thought this morning.

R2D2 can paint a podracer overnight.

But the Rebel Alliance with an army of astromech droids, let their ships look like this.

I know it's the look of the film, or the rebel's didn't want to spend money on paint. Make the Empire think rebel ships are poorly maintained, the Empire banned all paints except grey, etc.

I think its a plot to drive future modelers nuts. :lol

In reality it's another one one of those little 'things' in the prequels.
I thought it would fun to post this.

 

[cayman shen]

Do we know it was R2 who painted it?

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

If you look carefully in EP1, the pod is fully painted the first time we see it. It's just covered in dust/sand from the sandstorm the day before.

 

[Contec]

I know it's the look of the film, or the rebel's didn't want to spend money on paint. Make the Empire think rebel ships are poorly maintained, the Empire banned all paints except grey, etc. .

I think they don't feel the need to paint them. The rebels just need the ships to work. Like in the real world, rebels don't pimp their cars or trucks other that maybe put some armor or guns on them..."Look at me, I just put a fresh layer of paint on my armored truck now let's attack Saddam" "hope his army don't scratch the paint"...

The empire on the other hand need to keep things orderly and neat because they have a image to uphold to the public as a well drilled unstoppable army.

 

[Solo4114]

The empire on the other hand need to keep things orderly and neat because they have a image to uphold to the public as a well drilled unstoppable army.

...whose troops can't hit the broad side of a barn.

 

[Wes R]

...whose troops can't hit the broad side of a barn.

Apparently nobody in the Empire knew how to sight in a gun lol.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Also remember that less paint equals less weight. So they could have purposely done that to carry more fuel or weapons.

 

[major payne]

They might not look like much, but they got it where it counts!

 

[Columbo]

Podracing is showbiz, the Rebels are terrorist freedom fighters, so the PT and OT are consistent with the situation of the moment IMO. The Alliance might decide to set to work refurbishing their fleet but probably about as likely as Somalian pirates deciding their dinghy looks a bit shabby and giving it a respray.

 

[SSgt Burton]

As Contec said I think it's just a case of painting the ships to make them look a bit better was not a priority with the Alliance who were constantly on the run.

It also instantly gives the Alliance the look of being A) the underdog and B) their equipment is old and rundown. The ships may have been "pristine" at one time, but as guerilla fighters they don't have the time or resources to maintain them.



Kevin

 

[Timmythekid]

Apparently nobody in the Empire knew how to sight in a gun lol.

'Specially when they mount the sight backwards (seriousl, look at the tank sight on the E11).

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Podracing is showbiz, the Rebels are terrorist freedom fighters, so the PT and OT are consistent with the situation of the moment IMO.

Not to go into a big argument, but there's a big difference between people who target civilians specifically or don't care if they get hurt in the process to do as much damage as possible - physically as well as psychologically - compared to those going for disrupting and hindering the function of military targets and occupational forces of an oppressive regime.

Sure, the Empire may wish to paint the rebel alliance as terrorists, but I don't particularly see the rebels doing terrorist acts.

 

[Solo4114]

I don't think you'll get much by way of argument there.

Terrorism, by definition, targets civilians in an attempt to incite terror. The theory being that terrorism is necessary towards whatever the ultimate goal of the group may be because it applies pressure to the government because the civilian population will eventually cease to support the government and/or other radical elements latent within the society will rise up to overthrow the government.

You'd get more into a debate about "revolutionary" vs. "terrorist" although even there I'd say that one is a subset of the other. The "freedom fighter" vs. "terrorist" thing is usually muddled when you're attacking the civilian population of a DIFFERENT group from your own (IE: if, for example, American revolutionaries had thrown bombs into English coffee houses in London to force Parliament to grant the colonies independence). Usually, though, the terrorists/freedom fighters make some kind of distinction between who they're targeting and who they're supposedly freeing (IE: communist terrorist groups around Europe who targeted the rich, but who claimed to be working for the proletariat).


As for the Rebel Alliance, they were clearly rebels (they even said so), but they did not target civilians. Especially considering that regional governors were also usually Imperial military, even targeting government offices specifically rather than military installations would've been an act of rebellion rather than terrorism.

And don't gimme any nonsense about the contractors working on the job. They knew what they were getting into.

 

[Treadwell]

Paint sprayer options are not going to be found on every astromech you find to put to work in your revolutionary fleet, (surely it doesn't come standard!) and even if some do, you'll probably have more important things for them to do.

If you look carefully in EP1, the pod is fully painted the first time we see it. It's just covered in dust/sand from the sandstorm the day before.

There is some footage of Artoo spraying stuff (or just holding the sprayer, at least) in expanded/deleted scenes.

Paint job is probably full of sand! No spray booth!

 

[blakeh1]

...whose troops can't hit the broad side of a barn.

Though, give them a Sandcrawler to shoot at and they suddenly become extremely accurate.

 

[letmebestormy]

I have a SW observation and I don't want to start a thread on it. I was watching ANH with my kid and it occurred to me...

Why didn't Tarkin just blow up Yavin when he got there? Taking out the planet would have presumably destroyed the three moons as well.

Game, Set, Match - Empire.

 

[Funky]

Also remember that less paint equals less weight. So they could have purposely done that to carry more fuel or weapons.

In space, no one can feel your weight.

 

[Dave Ward]

I have a SW observation and I don't want to start a thread on it. I was watching ANH with my kid and it occurred to me...

Why didn't Tarkin just blow up Yavin when he got there? Taking out the planet would have presumably destroyed the three moons as well.

Game, Set, Match - Empire.

I suppose it was just arrogance. They did a good job of portraying how it never occurred to him for a second that he might actually lose. I'm sure there's probably a dozen ways he could have approached that situation more cautiously that would have had the empire win out.

 

[jcoffman99]

The R2 units are too busy painting all those sweet rebel pilot helmets.

 

[Gigatron]

War is hell, on resources and priorities.

Look at planes of the IJN and IJA, prior to WWII (occupation of China), during the war, and at the end. The japanese took pride in the appearance of their equipment - it was a sign of confidence in their superiority.

By the the end of the war, after japan had lost all of it's aces and a majority of it's better pilots, planes were going into battle with little more than primer. And the planes that did get painted, didn't have primer underneath, and the paint was coming off in sheets. They were desperate just to get planes in the air (and then into the decks of US warships). Every last yen went into keeping the remaining fleet, air-capable. Looking pretty was no longer that big of a concern.

I can only imagine that the folks in charge of the rebel fleet were thinking the same thing - hmmm...touch up the scratches or get that power converter working again.

-Fred